Nexus 7 tablet by Google

Google doubled down on the consumer cloud on Wednesday at Google I/O, where it unveiled the expected Nexus 7 tablet and the unexpected Nexus Q, which connects the new Google tablet and other Android smartphones to your TV.

While the Android Jelly Bean/4.1-packin’ Nexus 7 ($199) will get the immediate fanfare (as it is sure to be called an iPad killer), the $299 Nexus Q completes the personal cloud circle for Google Play, which as we noted here at Cloudline when it launched, “With Google Play, the Cloud Goes Prime Time.” Google’s Joe Britt, describing how the media-streaming Q acts as a “cloud-connected juke box,” gets to the killer device aspect of the Q: “No messy authentication or else.” Britt, stealing a line from somewhere, notes: “It just works.” You get multi-room playback and “social streaming,” meaning friends with Android devices can stream and also control the queue. “No more passing around a keyboard … everyone is in control,” Britt said at I/O. The device will be at home in the modern HDTV home, with its optical audio and HDMI…